Mapping Out the Truth

A Creationist-Run Dinosaur Dig

A creationist dig site in eastern Wyoming has set a new standard of excellence in fossil fieldwork. Using the latest technology, their precise catalog of dinosaur bones over a 247-acre area is uncovering an astonishing story of mass burial by rapidly moving water.

Wyoming’s weather proves unpredictable again. Even in June, a cold wind cuts
through wet clothing and chills those working under the pyramid-shaped “Hoodoo
Hut.” Mud clings to the awls and metal probes in the workers’ hands and slows
progress. Shivering, some of the workers scramble back to the warm camp, while
others gulp down a quick cup of hot chocolate before returning to the sifting,
scouring, and cleaning of fossils. The digging season window is short; only
the worst conditions will stop the work.

Before long, however, the pounding rain makes further progress impossible;
and rivulets course through the fossil quarry. The remaining workers—including
students and volunteers—finally retreat to their tents.

Dinosaur fossil discoveries will have to wait until tomorrow. For now, the
group gathers for dinner, a lecture, and praise music. Welcome to Camp Cretaceous.

The Formation of a Formation

Since 1997, the Hanson Research Station at Hanson Ranch in eastern Wyoming
has hosted a “Dino Dig” like no other. What began with five graduate students
and two professors—Art Chadwick and Lee Spencer—has turned into an annual gathering
of as many as 97 participants, all eager to help build a scientific view of
taphonomy (the study of animal and plant remains and how they are buried and
preserved) within a biblical framework.

Hanson Ranch was chosen because it contains extensive outcrops of the Lance
Formation—a fossil-rich rock layer located in the western United States. As
many as 25,000 animals were buried in the 247-acre (1 km2) research area. According
to the standard secular explanation, freshwater streams gradually laid down
the mudstone and sandstone during the Late Cretaceous. If this model were correct,
however, it would have taken thousands of years for rivers and local floods
to lay down so many fossils. And that view has major problems.

One of the main problems is that scientists accept the standard explanation uncritically.

For Chadwick, one of the main problems is that scientists accept the standard
explanation uncritically. “In my opinion, this unchallenged hypothesis, used
not only with respect to the Lance Formation but also for other deposits worldwide,
has served to prevent scientists from carefully considering alternative models,
including catastrophic ones. We are beginning to unravel the history of these
Lance beds, and the history we are seeing thus far appears quite different from
this standard scenario.”

To test the conventional explanation, Chadwick and his colleagues began to
meticulously reconstruct the taphonomic history of Hanson Ranch. What happened
to the animals’ bodies after they died?

The processes of burial and preservation left behind valuable evidence that
helps scientists reconstruct the past. They look at the sorting of the bones
(what kind of bones are nearest the surface), articulation (which bones are
still connected at the joint), scavenger marks, and the relative location of
each bone. All of this information, when compiled, helps build a picture of
the past.

When the group first documented their finds in 1997, they recorded the details
of each fossil in a table, which included the measurements and orientation of
every fossil. While unwieldy, this process provided hints that a high-velocity
water current deposited all these bones catastrophically.

To unlock a more complete history of the site, however, they needed a more
precise method of recording—something that would give them a better glimpse
into the chaotic forces that killed these animals then dumped their bones in
the patterns we find today.

Their solution caught the attention—and acclaim—of the secular scientific world.
In fact, it has set a new standard of excellence in rigorous fossil fieldwork.

Old Bones, New Technology

When you think of GPS (the global positioning system), you probably think of
the popular new gadgets that help drivers find their way to even the most remote
destinations. Orbiting satellites can give us a fairly precise picture of our
location, accurate to within about 50 feet (15 m) on most phones and commercial
products.

This works well for interstates and byways, but not fossils. So the team turned
to special differential RTK (real-time kinematic) equipment, which they set
up on site. Unlike most GPS devices, the special differential RTK equipment
provides accuracy to within less than one quarter of an inch.

When the team arrives at the ranch each year, they install a base system on
“GPS Hill.” Here they set up a large satellite antenna, a computer, a radio,
and a radio antenna. The base system reads the location information from the
GPS satellites and forwards it to the GPS “Rover.” The Rover (essentially a
smaller, portable version of the base system that is carried to each dig site)
uses these updates to correct for its own position in relation to the base on
GPS Hill.

Once a bone has been excavated and carefully logged, a GPS survey team brings
the Rover to the quarry and records a number of data points on the surface of
the bone. These points capture each fossil’s position and orientation in three-dimensional
space.

With many fossils now compiled over the years, this mapping system has allowed
the team to create an extraordinary reconstruction of the entire bone bed in
3D. Many of the team’s other individual discoveries, including bones from a
rare Nanotyrannus, have greatly expanded our understanding of dinosaurs.
But more than ten years of fieldwork have produced an even more valuable, broad
perspective into the formation and history of this unique site.

So what can these fossils teach us?

Excellent Science Starts with the Bible

Unearthing fossils in remote places is both rewarding and challenging. Rough
weather, power outages, communication failures, and the occasional snake make
life interesting. But the work at Hanson Ranch has provided important insights
into the fate of these remarkable animals—and challenged uniformitarian claims.

The GPS data, along with other observations, have revealed that this bone bed,
one of the largest in the world, is not the result of slow accumulation. “The
vertebrate deposit is in a relatively homogeneous mudstone, not river sand,”
Dr. Chadwick explains. “The disposition of the bones in the mudstone requires
that the mud and bones were deposited together as a single catastrophic unit.”

If the bones were deposited gradually, they would also show evidence of weathering
and damage from being transported. But they do not. Instead, the whole mass
of bones was sorted in water as one unit. Throughout the site, researchers find
large dinosaur limbs that sank first to the base, while smaller toe bones appear
at the top. In fact, all the bones were buried in a single graded bed (bones
are progressively smaller as you move from bottom to top).

Based on GPS data collected so far, the more likely scenario is that an enormous
herd of dinosaurs, mostly the duckbilled Edmontosaurus, were overtaken
by fast-flowing water and mud, died quickly, rotted in a freshwater environment,
and then were swept into deeper water by another catastrophe. This mass carnage
and devastation fits well with the creationist view of upheavals caused during
and after the Flood.

From Dirt to Digital . . .

Join the Dig . . .

Anyone can sift through the amazing collection of bones from the Hanson Research Station online.
Users can sort bones by type and other factors, view bones in context to the entire quarry, and even examine
360º views of some of the fossils. http://fossil.swau.edu/

For those unable to attend or simply wanting to learn more, the Online Dinosaur Museum offers information and videos about
how work is done at the quarries and the lab. During digging season, there’s even a live video feed from
Hanson Ranch. http://dinosaur.swau.edu/

More than Bones

By the end of the 2009 digging season, the rain-soaked start has given way
to hot days and cool nights. Free of light pollution, this remote part of Wyoming
offers a spectacular view of the Milky Way. Some of the campers leave their
tents and sleep under the stars to enjoy the last moments of this glorious experience.

Despite all the delays, the participants of this year’s Dinosaur Project have
located a record 1,233 specimens. School children, college students, and volunteers
have come and gone; bones have been unearthed and shipped off; and the understanding
of the Lance Formation continues to grow. But more importantly, each member
of the dig team has witnessed firsthand how science and technology confirm the
biblical account.

Chadwick sees that as the most important aspect of the dig. “We continue to
feel that the benefits of this project to participants outweigh even the remarkable
scientific value of the bones.”

Bones buried for thousands of years are not simply interesting relics. They
allow us to discover more details about the amazing God who created these creatures,
as well as His past acts of judgment. Above all, they declare God’s glory and
the absolute accuracy of His infallible Word.

Answers Magazine

January – March 2010

Fossils are filled with mystery. They are commonly used to attack the biblical worldview, but in reality the Bible gives us the keys to help us solve these mysteries. How could recently discovered dinosaur tissue have survived until today? Why is the first fossil layer filled with such an astonishing variety of life (“the Cambrian Explosion”)? Read this issue to understand these and other mysteries of our world!

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Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry, dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ effectively. We focus on providing answers to questions about the Bible—particularly the book of Genesis—regarding key issues such as creation, evolution, science, and the age of the earth.